Offices locked, officials missing a day after adviser Fouzul's order to stay at traffic-choked Sarail-Bishwaroad
Just a day after Road Transport and Bridges Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan ordered 12 senior Roads and Highways Department (RHD) officials to remain stationed round-the-clock at the Sarail-Bishwaroad intersection to oversee highway repairs and traffic management, the field office he had assigned them to was found locked and empty on today (9 October).
During a spot visit by The Business Standard at around 12:30pm, the temporary RHD camp at the Sarail-Bishwaroad intersection — one of the worst traffic choke points on the Dhaka–Sylhet Highway — was closed, with no officials in sight, even as traffic once again backed up for several kilometres.
The adviser's directive came yesterday (8 October), a day after he spent over two hours stuck in gridlock during a field inspection of the severely damaged Ashuganj–Sarail stretch. Fouzul, who ultimately had to abandon his convoy and complete the journey by motorcycle, had instructed the 12-member RHD task force to treat Sarail-Bishwaroad as their "camp office" until repairs and congestion were resolved.
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"If any of these officials are absent from this camp, they will be immediately suspended," he had told reporters after the inspection. "Traffic indiscipline is the main cause of this suffering. The Highway Police are not fulfilling their duties. Order must come first."
Yet, by the very next morning, none of the officials could be found.
Empty chairs, long jams
The 12 officials belong to a high-level RHD committee formed to supervise temporary repairs and coordinate long-delayed road works along the 51km Ashuganj–Akhaura thoroughfare. The committee includes the directors and additional directors of the Dhaka–Sylhet Corridor Development Project and the Ashuganj–Akhaura Four-Lane Highway Project, as well as executive engineers from Brahmanbaria, Narsingdi, Narayanganj and the Cumilla zone.
This morning, vehicles again crawled bumper-to-bumper through the Sarail-Bishwaroad area. By 10:30am, congestion stretched nearly two kilometres on both sides, police said.
"The traffic jam began after RHD's roadwork resumed in the morning," said Jahangir Alam, officer-in-charge of Khatihata Highway Police Station. "We're trying to manage traffic flow, but the condition of the road makes it difficult." Reportedly they need up to six hours to cross the 12km stretch from Ashuganj to Sarail.
RHD officials were unreachable for comment, and Brahmanbaria Executive Engineer Mir Nizam Uddin Ahmed was confirmed to be abroad in Japan.
Asked about the adviser's directive, Md Abdul Awal Molla, director of the Ashuganj–Akhaura Four-Lane Project, claimed that "all officials are working in the field."
"There isn't much congestion now," he said. "Our side office is in Ramrail, and everyone is busy with project work."
However, police contradicted that account as traffic tailbacks persisted for hours along both directions, worsened by repair works that narrowed the road.
Some said the situation had worsened since the July Uprising, when work stopped after more than 300 foreign engineers and workers of the Indian contractor, Efkon India, left the country.
Adviser's frustration
Yesterday, Adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan personally experienced the ordeal. After arriving in Bhairab by train, he began his inspection by car at 10:15am. Within minutes, his convoy stalled in gridlock near Sohagpur and remained stuck until 12:30pm. Eventually, he and his team disembarked and continued the journey by motorcycle to Sarail-Bishwaroad.
At the site, he expressed frustration with both the RHD and the Highway Police, saying that traffic chaos, not road width, was the root cause of the problem.
"The main issue is not the highway itself," he said. "If we keep expanding roads endlessly, we'll lose land for homes, industries, and even burial grounds. We need better traffic management and must shift more transport to rail and waterways."
Fouzul also announced plans to build a flyover at Sarail-Bishwaroad and to install dividers and concrete surfacing along the Ashuganj–Sarail segment.
Before leaving, he instructed the 12-member RHD team to use an on-site office as a camp one at the intersection and remain there until the situation improved. "This is now your office," he had ordered them. "No need to go back to Dhaka office."
A stalled project, five years on
The Tk5,791 crore Ashuganj–Akhaura four-lane project, launched in 2020, was meant to modernise a critical section of the Dhaka–Sylhet Highway. But progress has been plagued by funding disputes, land issues, and mismanagement.
Five years later, the project remains barely half complete. The 12km stretch between Ashuganj and Sarail has deteriorated into potholes and craters. Regular maintenance was halted because it falls within the project area. When Efkon suspended operations in July last year, the surface broke down further, leaving vehicles to navigate a maze of broken asphalt and muddy detours.
Drivers say it can take four to six hours to travel the 12km route. During peak hours or after rain, the journey can stretch to ten hours.
